The present invention relates to an electronic-element inserting apparatus which is made capable of inserting in a printed circuit board (referred to simply as a "board", hereinafter) a great variety of electronic elements which are different in configuration and, more particularly, to an electronic-element inserting apparatus which is suitable for large variety-small lot production.
Examples of the electronic elements which are inserted in a board include taped vertical-type or horizontal-type electronic elements (referred to simply as "elements", hereinafter), package-type electronic elements such as ICs, variable resistors and variable capacitors, and special-form elements (referred to as "special-form elements" or simply as "elements", hereinafter) such as sockets which detachably support the above-mentioned electronic elements.
As an example of the apparatus for inserting these elements in a board, an assembling apparatus was mentioned in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 132,770/1978. This assembling apparatus is arranged such that a plurality of different kinds of elements are aligned, according to a predetermined order, on an element conveying means which feeds the elements to a supply position, and are unloaded from the element conveying means by means of chucks arranged according to a predetermined order and are then inserted in the board. It is, therefore, necessary to change the arrangement of the chucks when the element inserting order is changed. Further, when elements to be inserted are changed, it is also necessary to change the chucks correspondingly. Accordingly, the conventional assembling apparatus requires an inconveniently long time for changing the arrangement of its mechanism and therefore is not suitable for large variety-small lot production.
Another example of the element inserting apparatus hitherto proposed is a mounting apparatus which was disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 199,296/1982. The mounting apparatus is arranged such that an inserting head and a tentative fixing means which are integrally connected to each other are moved in relation to an element supply position and a board which are located at their respective fixed positions whereby elements are inserted in the board. In such a mounting apparatus, since the element mounting operation involves moving an element mounting head and an anvil head which are connected to each other, the weight of the moving part is increased such as to produce a large inertia, which in turn makes it difficult to increase the speed of the element mounting operation. In addition, the mounting apparatus has the disadvantage that it is not possible to quickly cope with a change in, for example, configuration and size of elements to be inserted.
To overcome the above-described disadvantages, an apparatus has been proposed which was disclosed as a "Multi-Function Computer-Controlled Component Inserter" in IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin Vol. 23 No. 2, July 1980. This apparatus is similar to the mounting apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 199,296/1982 but is additionally provided with a plurality of different kinds of element-handling chucks such as to allow the chucks to be changed according to the configuration and size of elements to be handled. In this apparatus, however, it is still difficult to increase the speed of the element inserting operation. In addition, the tentative element fixing means of the apparatus disadvantageously limits the number of different kinds of elements which can be inserted.
In each of the above-described apparatuses, furthermore, the inserted condition of an element is judged to be good or bad by detecting the force applied in cutting or bending the lead of the element by the tentative fixing means or the contact between the tentative fixing means and the lead. Accordingly, the inserted condition of the element cannot be judged before the inserting head has finished an inserting operation. Therefore, when any inserting failure occurs due to, for example, bending of the lead of an element or misalignment between the lead and the corresponding hole in the board, accidents easily happen such as damage to the element or the board. In consequence, a costly board or element may be wasted, and the apparatus may disadvantageously be required to suspend operations in order to allow for the damaged board or element to be removed, thus causing a reduction in working efficiency.